Speedrunning! It’s been around since 1994. Some consider it a form of art, some don’t. But what we do know about it is that it is damn fun to watch! I mean, come on. Whether you’re watching a Quake speedrun, a Metroid speedrun, or what have you, it’s almost as entertaining as actually playing the game in question.

There’s two main types of speedruns: single-segment speedruns and multi-segment speedruns. The latter is a speedrun in which the runner does not actually do it in one sitting – he does it in multiple sittings, in multiple segments to ensure perfection and correct any mistakes. The former is a speedrun made out of one single segment. No pausing, no saving. One single sitting. That means every time you make a mistake, you either bear with it, or call off the entire thing and start over. So a single-segment represents the ultimate test of skill and endurance.

The Valve community hasn’t shied away from speedrunning either. Last year’s astounding 9-minute Portal speedrun by DemonStrate still holds the world record for Portal speedruns. And there’s also been numerous Half-Life speedruns – single-segment, multi-segment, crowbar-only, you name it, these guys have probably done it.

The world speedrunning record for Half-Life 1 is still held by Blake “Spider-Waffle” Piepho, who completed his infamous “Half-Life in Half an Hour” speedrun (for which a series of commentary videos can be found here) in October of 2006, with a time of 29 minutes and 41 seconds. Blake’s also done a number of other Half-Life speedruns. For more information on Half-Life speed runs in particular, head over to Source Runs. You should also check out the Speed Demo Archive, and the Speed Run Wiki.

But let’s get to business, shall we?

Albin “quadrazid” Sigby (a pretty prolific speedrunner, check out all of his runs here), of SourceRuns, a website for all the Source and GoldSource speedruns and speedrunners out there, has done the incredible – a single-segment run of Half-Life 1 that clocks in at 32 minutes and 55 seconds, just over Blake’s world record multi-segment speedrun. Done on version 1.1.2.0, using Bunny Mod, performed solo on Easy difficulty, on the 1st of July and posted online on the 8th, this is easily one of the most amazing speed runs we’ve ever seen.

Quadrazid’s skills are nothing short of jaw-dropping – he manages to completely avoid most of the Resonance Cascade scripted sequence, saving a lot of precious time. He does On A Rail without a tram, and glides around the maps so fast it certainly seems as if he didn’t need that thing in the first place. Blink, or yawn, or something, and you might just miss an entire map! There’s tricks here that Valve probably had no clue existed. But the ending is the best part – shortly after tearing the Nihilanth a new behind in a pretty amazing manner, Quadrazid goes “gg” in the in-game chat. While most of us might use “gg” after a… more or less frustrating multiplayer match, Quadrazid uses it after doing… this. It gives “gg” a whole new meaning, I would argue.

There are a few flaws, of course, but that’s to be expected with these challenging single-segment runs. Quadrazid’s run is still near flawless. He talks a bit about how he did it in the video’s description, on YouTube:

Started this project April 2010. Back then, I had an estimated time of 46 minutes. Time went on and I found new styles and tricks. Finished the first run January 20, 2011, with a time of 38.57.
More tricks were discovered, skill increased. April 1st, I finished in 35.21. Revolutionary tricks and routes was discovered. June 30, I did a 33.37 run with poor gameplay.
Just one day after, July 1st I finished an almost flawless single-segment run in 32.55.

We’ve got no idea what Quadrazid is going to do next, but one of his colleagues at Source Runs, CooL, will be doing a single-segment speedrun of HL2. For high-quality downloads, more information on the run, and on Half-Life speedrunning, check out the official SourceRuns thread.